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This post was updated at 5:34 AM on Friday with comment from Facebook.

Finally, I can now do something about all those tacky speed-dating ads that show up on my Facebook profile. Blogger Rob Webb appears to have been the first to notice that the social network now allows members to rate the site's ads with a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, you know, gladiator-style.

Facebook originally launched its "social ads" strategy last November, and privacy concerns over the controversial "Beacon" ads gave the program some pretty bad press. But this move is pretty innovative, and … Read more

This post was corrected to clarify when Adify was purchased by Cox Enterprises.

NEW YORK--Some have said that because of the wealth of personal information they store, social networks are the future of online advertising. Russ Fradin, co-founder and president of Adify, disagrees.

"Social networks, to date, what they've really done is drive performance-based CPMs down a lot," Fradin said in reference to the fact that a CPM (clicks per thousand impressions) rate of a dollar used to be considered low, but thanks to the influence of social networks, it's as low as three cents.

Fradin … Read more

Wanna buy a cute, cuddly Shih-tzu? How about a 1993 Chevy truck? A three-bedroom, two-bath house in Maryland?

Think Wal-Mart.

Wait a second before you decide the big-box retailer has gone gonzo with the concept of selling everything under the sun. It's actually testing the waters with a beta of free online classified ads.

The site, launched last week and powered by Oodle.com, carries more than 40 million listings because it taps into Oodle.com's already-existing postings. Start-up Oodle.com aggregates listings from more than 80,000 local and national sites.

Wal-Mart's free service allows sellers … Read more

This year's major update to user favorite Ad-Aware looks to be more of a course correction from some of the missteps in the 2007 version. The adware and malware detection engine has undergone a significant overhaul, resulting in faster scan times, and the interface has been changed.

The changes to the detection and removal engine will be noticeable to long-time Ad-Aware users, with Lavasoft touting faster scan times and better rootkit detection. New users should notice that the app performs faster than integrated antivirus and antimalware programs, and that's because only the paid version of Ad-Aware comes with … Read more

Google's top brass are meeting Monday to figure out a response to how Microsoft's new overtures toward Yahoo affect Google's potential ad deal with Yahoo.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, speaking to reporters at a Google Zeitgeist event in the U.K., said he's meeting with co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin on the matter, according to the Times Online. "After this press conference the three of us will meet and decide what our response is," Schmidt said.

Google and Yahoo have been discussing a partnership under which Google would supply some text ads … Read more

Google will open its ad network so certified partners can serve advertisements and track ad data--a move designed to make it easier for advertisers to run campaigns across multiple companies' networks.

"This will empower advertisers to work with approved third parties to serve and track display ads, including rich-media ads, across the Google content network through AdWords, giving them more options, flexibility and control over their campaigns," Rajas Moonka, senior business product manager, said Monday on Google's corporate blog.

The network had been closed, waiting for Google to build a mechanism to review ad compliance with Google … Read more

Making money off social-network advertising may prove tougher than originally thought.

eMarketer on Tuesday revised its projections for social-network ad spending in the U.S. this year to $1.4 billion, down from the previous projection of $1.6 billion. The Internet market researcher said the poor economy was partly to blame for the revision.

"Social-network sites are still trying to figure out what sort of advertising works," Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst who authored the report, said in a statement. "Tapping into consumers' conversations and spreading brand awareness virally has proven more challenging than companies … Read more

Consumers are being warned that they may get an ad instead of a music or video file on several file-sharing sites in what security firm McAfee says is the most significant malware outbreak in three years.

McAfee Avert Labs reported on Tuesday that more than 500,000 detections of a Trojan horse masquerading as a media file have been found on computers since Friday on services like Limewire and eDonkey.

Instead of playing an adult video, the Lion King in Portuguese, or the Girls Aloud theme from the St Trinnians soundtrack, for example, hundreds of rigged MP3 and MPEG files … Read more

Tom Cruise and his publicity crew are apparently buying up ads on Google AdWords. Hollywood Newsroom first noticed the fact that when you type in "Tom Cruise" in a Google search, paid sponsored ads for the Scientologist's official, soon-to-be-launched Web site appear. "Stay Tuned For Official Site Launch" and "Get the real scoop from Tom Cruise," the ads proclaim.

The timing of the Google Adwords move appears to coincide with Cruise's recent appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he made an earnest attempt to convince Oprah and the public that he'… Read more